NSA Leak: David Gregory Suggests Glenn Greenwald Should Be Charged With A Crime

On Sunday’s Meet the Press, host David Gregory asked Glenn Greenwald, “To the extent that you have aided and abetted [Edward] Snowden [NSA leaker], even in his current movements, why shouldn’t you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?” Last week I wrote about “groupthink” within the ranks of the mainstream media, and David Gregory is now Exhibit A. I believe a journalist could cross a line from reporting the news, to becoming the news, but is that what Greenwald set out to do? Is that what he’s done? Or is the mainstream media out to get him? Right now I put my money on the latter. The mainstream media coverage of the Snowden story falls under complicit reporting of government affairs, not objective reporting. It’s the kind of journalism that kept the executive branch unchecked and led us into two wars.

It’s possible we could find out Greenwald “aided and abetted” Edward Snowden, but maybe Gregory should refrain from making accusations and questioning journalistic integrity in the absence of evidence. Gregory said he was only asking a question, but it was a question that contained an embedded narrative. Would Gregory ask this question if the NSA leaker were still anonymous? And what kind of journalistic precedent is he trying to set by indicting a fellow journalist without a shred of evidence?

Greenwald replied saying it was “pretty extraordinary that anybody who would call themselves a journalist would publicly muse about whether or not other journalists should be charged with felonies.” Well, it might be fine if the one doing the musing had solid evidence to back up the claim. Since Gregory has no evidence, I then question his motive, especially considering his follow-up statement. “The question of who’s a journalist may be up to a debate with regard to what you’re doing,” said Gregory, adding that he was not “embracing anything,” but simply repeating a question others have asked. Now that’s the Fox News school of journalism right there. We Report. You Decide (even though we posit and embed a narrative within our reporting).

Bravo Gregory! I already consider Meet the Press a complete waste of airtime, but somehow you managed to lower its status even further.